[Talk-GB] Classification of roads

[Steven Hirschorn]

>
> These are only OS's opinion, not a legal status, so there's no need to
> follow them slavishly if our own on-the-ground observation clearly
> points to something different. But they are open data, so we can use
> them, and they do form a useful guide when local observation is
> potentially inconclusive or ambiguous.
>

Thanks - what about the thorny issue of what residents *want* their road to
be, rather than how drivers choose to use it? Does a regular rat running
problem change the status of a road?


On Thu, 19 Aug 2021 at 19:07, Mark Goodge <mark at good-stuff.co.uk> wrote:

>
>
> On 19/08/2021 18:35, Colin Smale wrote:
> > There is a legal distinction between Tertiary and Unclassified; the
> > responsible highway authority decides, and records it in their
> > definitive list of streets. A tertiary road has a number, usually
> > prefixed by a 'C', which is not usually publicised.
> >
> > Looking at Streetview it looks like Alexandria Road has a function for
> > through traffic, so IMHO it should not be tagged as residential. Whether
> > it's tertiary or unclassified depends formally on the HA as mentioned
> > above. But one thing is certain: the mere presence of houses along this
> > road is not sufficient to class it as residential.
>
> OS OpenRoads has a "road function" column which indicates the usage of
> the road (as distinct from the "road classification" column which shows
> the legal status. The possible values of "road function" are:
>
> Motorway
> A Road
> B Road
> Minor Road
> Local Road
> Local Access Road
> Secondary Access Road
> Restricted Local Access Road
>
> The top three obviously reflect the legal status of classified roads
> (and, if that value is present, is always the same as the "road
> classification" column), but the rest are an "on the ground" observation
> of how the road is actually used in practice. Broadly speaking, "Minor
> Road" corresponds to OSM's "tertiary", and, in urban areas, "Local Road"
> corresponds to OSM's "residential".
>
> These are only OS's opinion, not a legal status, so there's no need to
> follow them slavishly if our own on-the-ground observation clearly
> points to something different. But they are open data, so we can use
> them, and they do form a useful guide when local observation is
> potentially inconclusive or ambiguous.
>
> In this particular case, Alexandria Road in Ealing is labelled "Minor
> Road" by OS, so I would be inclined to agree that "tertiary" is the best
> option for OSM.
>
> Mark
>
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